Waking Beauty
by dulceata
Summary: For whoso on this spindle pricks...
1. Prologue

_And thorns across her brow_

_So fair, so cold._

_Like winter's bloom in spring._

_And drops of scarlet at her feet._

She lay unmoving on the soft satin of the coverlet, dark hair encircling her pale face. She was not dead, her heart still beat beneath her bosom. Her chest still rose in steady rhythm. Her face was solemn; no smile lay across her lips, the sleep was too deep. Her slender hands, unmarked except for one scarlet drop, on the utmost tip of her index finger, contrasted against the midnight blue of her gown. Dark lashes brushed against her face, enclosing jewels.

All around the slumbering form, thorns entwined with the faint scent of rose. None touched her nor marked her, they only served as protection.

Time passed without notice. Until the day a lone figure in white, stepped into the castle.


	2. Evening of the Dawn

When the princess was born, on the first day of the fall rains, no one rejoiced. There were no trumpets or celebratory games, only the dull silence of hopelessness. This birth would be of no help in the coming war. She could not be a warrior that would fight for the lands, and the kingdom was not prosperous enough to offer her as a marriage match. And besides, she could not compete with the existing princess, Kikyo.

No, they could not afford another daughter.

So they named her Kagome, the bird at the eve of the dawn, and they forgot her. She was never mistreated, never was in want of anything a royal offspring should have, but she was never seen. And gradually, she became myth.

The only one who never let herself forget was her older sister. Kikyo never allowed herself to ignore the possibility Kagome presented as her usurper.


	3. In No Way Kind

A small child toddled down the hall, fingers running along the soft cloth of the tapestries. Her nurse had told her stories of the beautiful princess that was her sister, and she wanted to see her. Surely then she would be loved. After all, princesses were kind and generous, and loved children.

The small figure with curious blue eyes drifted past groups of courtiers, and if anyone saw, they averted their eyes. It wasn't meant as cruelty, simply survival. The king was dying and the princess held the power. And the princess did not like any treatment of kindness towards her sister. The various servants without jobs had learned that the hard way, and nobles could not survive without royal favor.

Only the monk regarded her with serene eyes.

As she approached the tall figure at the center of the adults, she felt the oppressive silence grow, but she was sure her sister would look upon her with kind eyes.

When she was finally before the princess, the eyes that met hers were in no way kind.


	4. Violet Eyed Truth

**Author's Note:** Hey if I don't get reviews I'm not updating... but don't take it as an ultimatum, it's more of an incentive/ influence type thing... If I don't get feedback I might accidentally slip into a horrific tangent that has no appeal whatsoever...

The violet-eyed monk watched as the mask of the princess slipped. Suddenly the true face of disgust and fear appeared. And he watched as the hopeful eyes of the younger, widened and then dimmed into acceptance.

No. The elder princess would not do. But the younger... There was promise in the brilliant blue eyes and midnight hair.

He had been sent by the neighboring king, to seek an alliance with the smaller, weaker kingdom in order to unify the land against their opponents. A marital alliance. And while the elder princess was all that was promised as far as physical appeal, her heart was black.


	5. Image of Possibilities

When the little girl turned seven she received her own tutor. He was a short balding man, with pointy ears and a persistant interest in blood lineage. His name was Myoga, and he taught her many things. Most importantly he taught her to love knowledge, and to be curious about everything.

And as she continued to learn and to grow, she was watched.

The elder sister watched her with growing envy as she saw the promise that Kagome presented, and the way eyes were drawn towards her.

The violet-eyed monk watched her with growing resolution and hope.

And the servants watched her with love and adoration of her kind heart.

But within the walls of the palace, a growing sense of tension was felt as the king's health faded and factions rose and fell at the whims of fate, both coincidental and manipulated.


	6. You Will Never Compare

On the thirteenth year of the young princess' life her figure blossomed and the promise of her beauty began to appear. The younger generation of the male aristocrat's began to send glances out of the corner of their eyes when she entered a room; and the glances became more and more frequent.

Even though she dressed simply, attention she held attention, much to her sister's displeasure.

And then it came. On one pleasant morning that held no hint of the storms to come, the elder sister made known her displeasure.

Kagome had been aware of the cold relationship with her sister, but thought it merely a consequence of their difference in age, and normal. She did not know of the burning anger inside Kikyo's heart.

On that pleasant morning, Kagome sat buried in a corner of the vast library, surrounded by stacks of various books. She was distracted and thus did not notice her sister's presence until she was right in front of her.

Kikyo had been suffering through a long audience in which her foreign ministers were extolling the virtues of the young princess as a political match, and thus, when she saw her sister, her anger was enflamed.

"Why do you not leave?" she demanded abruptly as Kagome lowered her book. "No one loves you here and you annoy those who surround you. You will never compare."

After glaring at her for a few moments waiting for a response that was not forthcoming, Kikyo stormed away to go torment some poor servant with her foul mood.


	7. Perhaps More Sincere

A tall figure strode into the hall surrounded by various knights, all wearing the insignia of the Western kingdom. He wore power like a cloak, but his golden eyes held compassion and laughter.

"Inutaishou" the courtiers whispered with awe and shivered.

His name had been heard before, but usually to the ears of the young as a threat. His name meant death to his opponents.

But what few realized, is that, to those he loved his name meant protection and comfort, as well as a kind of adoring devotion. Exept for his sons.

His eldest respected him and was deeply loyal, but held his emotions in check. Experiences too dark to be told had taught him such.

While the youngest lived life with a wild abandon and acted only for his own benefit. His father was only the figure that would ultimately lead to his inheritance. Nothing more.

However, today was not the time to be thinking of his sons. Today he was here to see his soon-to-be daughter. He had received a message that perhaps he should meet the prospective beforehand... as well as an interesting sidenote on her sister.

"You might be interested, honorable sir, in knowing that blue eyes are perhaps more sincere."


	8. Forgotten Blue Eyes

The youngest prince had little to call his own. And what he did have, he held so closely that none could pry away from him.

But he did not treasure these few things, instead, they only served to remind him of what he did not hold, and what his brother had.

Around dark corners and shadowed nooks he met with those who meant little benefit for the eldest.

And in such darkness he first saw a sister who despised the youngest.

There are few plots that are seen as what they are at first. There are few who are willing to see the worst in others that is also their true nature.

Inutaishou smiled when he saw his youngest get on so well with his soon-to-be sister.

And the forgotten blue eyes watched on.


	9. Not All Who Wander

The visiting prince was wandering. He was crown prince and no one could tell him where he could and could not go. That was why, when he was told that the furthest tower had nothing of interest and that he should not bother to go there, his feet immediately took him to said place of boredom. After all, the whispering and machinations of the court had no amusement for him. And he did not care for the way the brown eyes of his supposed betrothed would glint towards him, especially when she was in the company of his brother. So he wandered.

And he was not in the least surprised when he found that the furthest tower, which held nothing of interest, contained the rooms of the youngest princess who nobody seemed to remember.

However, he was surprised when the deep blue eyes met his with such sadness.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

She smiled with old eyes, "Wouldn't you be?"

He nodded solemnly, "But now, would you like to wander with me?"


	10. A Piece of Herself

A mix of spidersilk and herbs. The scent of lilac and magic. Strange words muttered over a smoking pot. That was the promise the old woman whispered into the eldest princess' ear.

And the prospect of a life without her younger challenger made her eyes gleam when she, in turn, whispered the words into the younger son's ear. Gradually entwining him int her web.

But what she did not know. What the eldest did not know as she coated her sister's spinning wheel with the potion, was that magic, even the good magic of which this was not, always had a price.

As she chanted her rhyme of death, she did not realize that she placed a piece of herself into the enchantment.

_A soul is a soul_

_But place the soul deep_

_Ne'er to wake, ever to sleep._

It was only the last line that was meant for her sister.


	11. Newfound Follower

But her trap fell short. The princess Kagome let her spinning wheel fall silent in the weeks thereafter and she almost seemed to have disappeared from the court. The eldest almost began to hope that she had taken her words to heart and run away. It was a glancing hope, she knew, but her cold heart held on to the dream.

And as she began to fade into herself, her eyes almost vacant at the same time that ice seemed to grow within them, the younger bloomed.

She bloomed in privacy, not one to enjoy the crowds of the court. But as she and her newfound follower explored the hidden walkways of the castle and the silent glens of the nearby forest, her eyes grew luminous with laughter. Such joy at the height of her dance.

Behind her, ever following, the betrothed of her sister watched without comment, but with joy shining through his own eyes. No, he would not be tied to her sister for long.


	12. A Candle Dimmed

The nights were silent. Black cloth against the sky. Although there were whispers, they were like the wind through the keyholes to those who did not know to listen.

A small light bobbed. A candle dimmed by the hand shielding it. The youngest princess was restless.

There was expectation in the air. Tomorrow the betrothal would be finalized.

Whether or not it was yay or nay though... that had yet to be seen.


	13. A Single Crimson Droplet

The candle shone bright in the darkness of the highest room. All was quiet in the warm night air. Peaceful. Only broken by the soft footsteps of the sleepless princess.

A spindle in the center of the room tood out in the candles thin light.

With a small tug, pale hands pulled the dusky curtains from the window. Breaking moonlight into the room.

One slender finger reached for the spindle's point.

Eyes dazed in dreaming.

A single crimson droplet fell slowly to the ground.


	14. The Curse's Descent

The sister's curse did not awake immediately. It was a gradual descent. A lethargy fell on the youngest princess. The moonlight seemed brighter and the shadows darker. Her limbs were so very tired tonight.

In this half-dreaming state she wandered back to her rooms, losing more and more of herself to sleep as she moved.

The candle lay forgotten on the floor, still glowing in the abandoned room at the top of the tower.

The curse completed its long descent and she fell to the bed, dark hair framing her pale face. And a single drop of blood frozen onto her index finger.


	15. The Price She Paid

In the rooms of the oldest princess a scream was heard.

Standing in front of the mirror, her brown eyes stared in fear as the wisp of her soul was torn from her black heart.

Her claw-like fingers clutched at air.

The price she paid for her sister's sleep.


	16. All But Forgotten

Pounding on the stairwell.

A desperate rush for the princess' chambers.

A low keen.

The servants mourned the loss of their darling. Their protector. Their Kagome.

And at the far end of the corridor. The hag like creature that was once the eldest princess, was all but forgotten.

A kinder fate than if her deeds had been remembered.


	17. The Accusing Windows

It was a solemn company that left the castle.

Once full of sound and music. It was draped in welcoming banners no more.

The rain, with its sudden onset, poured down on the departers' heads.

Armour creaked as the horses stumbled through the mud.

The youngest prince was sulking at the twisting of his plans. A somewhat fearful glint in his eyes. Out of all of them, he alone knew what the eldest princess' curse meant.

He would not look up at the tallest tower, choosing to avert his eyes and creep away from their accusing windows.


	18. A Hand in the Darkness

In the smallest room in the highest tower, a beauty slept. Waiting for her white clothed knight to wake her. With a kiss.

In another castle, a silver haired prince tossed in his sleep, dreaming of dark hair, blue eyes and a fellow wanderer, now lost. His arms stretched out as if seeking something. Someone. A hand to grasp in the darkness.

Seventy years passed as she dreamt. For him the time would pass quickly as he wandered, ever searching.

In the distant corners of his mind, he sought a way to wake his sleeping beauty


	19. The Simplicity of it All

And one night, when the clouds were dark with the omnipresence of rain, and a storm was brewing in the north. He found it.

His answer was not with the scholars of the universities, nor with the alchemists and mages of the darker dungeons.

In a small corner of his father's kingdom. Rarely visited and gone wild in the neglect. A cabin of a local wild that the prince stopped in only to escape the oncoming storm.

Fate plays strange hands.

There, he found the answer. The way to save the princess in the tower.

True love's kiss.

He wondered at the simplicity of it all.


	20. Unchanged by Time

His steps echoed on the floors of the castle that he had visited so long ago. Then swept clean and glittering in reflection of the ballgowns and jewels, now dirt moved across it with the small gust his entrance had caused. Cobwebs in the corner and mice scuttled away.

The white figure moved through memories' familiar room with barely a glance. Childhood's footsteps haunting him as his boots trod through the past.

A tower he remembered well.

A girl who lived there. Seventy years ago.

How would the years have changed her?

At the threshold of the room, the footsteps stopped.

Unchanged by time, she lay there.


	21. Embracing Without Touch

One drop, the darkest scarlet, frozen at her fingers tip.

Though time had marked it's presence through the rest of the world, here time had no meaning.

Softly sleeping, the princess lay, dark lashes covering once brilliant eyes.

Blue dress in folds against the snow white covers.

And all encased in thorns of protection, embracing without touch.

The prince's fine garments were slashed and torn as his sword made short work of the vines. He would free her. He must free her.


	22. Having Woken Beauty

A kiss. Small touch of breath on perfect lips. Blue met amber gold as dark lashes fluttered open. A sigh, a stretch. Blossoms still fluttering on the bed.

"Ah Sesshoumaru. How I've dreamt" she smile up at him. Small crinkles at the corner of eyes.

Tousled hair cascades down her back.

Having woken beauty, he held her close to his heart

Through time they lived together. Never being afraid to wander aimlessly through the forests, as long as they were with each other.

Though kingdoms rose and fell, and years passed, they were happy.

And when seventy more years had passed and both their hairs were tinged with gray and their skin written with wrinkles. They passed once more into sleep, held close together. Fingers entwined and smiles peaceful.


End file.
